The Thinking Persons Blog

Menu

Revolt

Throughout history working people have not always been treated fairly. This unkind treatment has lead to acrimony and hatred of the significant classes. Whether for economic survival or forced servitude, they rarely see the fruits of their labor. Workers have often been divided along many lines, often race in the western hemisphere. This dividing line keeps people with common interest from creating a union devoted to the betterment of all.

There exist a Caribbean island where the native people were wiped out through genocide and pestilence. What took its place was a bizarre racial caste system which served to create profits for a homunculus dictator in a far away land. The profits the island generated made it among the richest places on the planet. Productivity increased beyond human capacity due to inhumane treatment of the workers. However, there is a breaking point which has been reached, and the workers begin to revolt.

The workers begin to strike and engage in industrial sabotage to voice their discontent. A charismatic man leads the Black Jacobins on a quest for freedom from their oppressors. They are outnumbered because the dictator sends the phalanx of troops, but the workers have the advantage of determination, intellect, and knowledge of the terrain. Eventually the working people win their freedom; a first in the western hemisphere. Unfortunately, as it is often said, enjoy the war, for the peace will be terrible.

The workers were punished for freeing themselves and they had to pay a price. Their freedom caused the mother country to lose money which infuriated the dictator. Under their investor state dispute policy, the freedmen had to recompense their former captors for the loss of profits. With no one else willing to recognize their freedom they were left to fend for themselves with no resources. This condition of poverty continued for centuries, and the only help that was offed to them came in the form of neoliberalism.